Video recorders for recording moving images on a recording medium are well known, and recent advances in component miniaturisation have seen a marked reduction in size and cost of such devices together with an improvement in performance. Such devices however are still relatively expensive due in part to the requirement for reliability and long life of the components, and the complicated mechanism and extra components incorporated into most types of devices for providing loading and ejecting of the recording medium, and in the case of magnetic tape, rewinding of the recording tape, and playback from the recording tape of recorded images. Consequently due to the cost of current devices, someone wishing to occasionally make a video recording must either borrow or hire a video recorder, and handle this with care to avoid damage. It is also unwise to allow the video recorder to be used by children.